Businesses provide ethics classes and seminars to teach employees about acceptable behavior in the workplace. Employees who are honest by nature usually take away some food for thought from these sessions while those who are not honest by nature take away only a free lunch. Ethics classes tend to teach behavior in binary terms. This behavior is acceptable and this behavior is not. Stealing from the business is bad and not stealing from the business is good. The problem is that most unethical behavior occurs in the gray areas, in areas where the employee would like to excuse or overlook their actions. The company just purchased new software and I would never think of stealing one of the CD's out of the box for myself. But maybe borrowing the CD so I can load the software on my PC at home is OK if I return the CD in the morning... right? After all, this will allow me to use the software to do my work from home... right? And if my daughter is able to also use it to do her homework, what's the harm... right?
For over a hundred and fifty years, people have warned about the effects of business upon the environment. While Dickens warned of pollution that was easily seen, with harm that was easily felt, the problems of industrial pollution today are less obvious. As humanity has spread across the world on which it lives, it has become clear that people can have a far greater impact on their home than anyone could have imagined. While politicians and other selfish sorts enjoy denying global warming for their own ends, the fact is that in any broad survey of environmental scientists, over ninety percent will agree with the proposition that global warming is real, and human activity contributes to it.
This is an example of unethical behavior that some might consider minor. It probably occurs tens of thousands of times every day. Aside from the loss of revenue for the software developer, the real problem here was that the employee rationalized their behavior. By not stealing the CD they aren't breaking the ethics policy of the business and might even be helping the business by enabling themselves to work at home. The employee is intentionally overlooked the fact that their behavior was unethical.
Let's consider another example. You are the CEO of a large public corporation and it's your job to build value for your shareholders. You're in a tough, competitive market and, while you know you have some problems today, you also have every reason to believe things will improve in the future. To help you through this period, you have your finance department assess the future value of some of your contracts to make your projections look better. After all, these are future projections and if you fail to achieve your projections at that time, you will be able to absorb the loss at that time and besides, maybe by helping your numbers now, you can help make those projections become a reality. Of course, you are having a bad year and have to account for some real losses. By moving around some of your assets to other parts of the corporation you can isolate those losses and explain them against poor operating units of the business. This is just business and your just doing your job... right? Your corporation uses Arthur Anderson, one of the "Big Five" accounting firms to perform your outside audits. They will look at your balance sheet as you have now directed it and be able to report that your corporation is healthy and a great investment helping to maintain your stock prices. You don't think your behavior is unethical; you're just doing the job you're being paid to do... right?
"No legacy is so rich as Honesty." ~ William Shakespeare Same thing when it comes to answering questions. Don't answer a question just for the sake of answering or not feeling stupid by not replying. If you don't know the proper answer, admit it and come back as soon as possible by delivering a fact-based answer. This will skyrocket your reputation and consequently the client will respect you.
The ISO 14001 standard is currently the flagship of this principle. Organized and overseen by neutral, non-governmental entities, it covers all aspects of business, from management processes, to manufacturing techniques, to shipping and delivering. The aim is not just to help improve the environment for its own sake, but also to reduce costs and increase efficiency by eliminating waste. The ISO certification brings great prestige and recognition to any business which earns it.
Employees should be taught to question their decisions by asking; "Am I rationalizing unethical behavior?" Businesses need to reinforce their ethics policy by instructing employees, when there is doubt; "Take the high road". When followed, this simple rule will help employees avoid unethical behavior. Unethical behavior creates a victim who is negatively impacted by the employee's actions. If there is a victim then the employees behavior is likely unethical.
For over a hundred and fifty years, people have warned about the effects of business upon the environment. While Dickens warned of pollution that was easily seen, with harm that was easily felt, the problems of industrial pollution today are less obvious. As humanity has spread across the world on which it lives, it has become clear that people can have a far greater impact on their home than anyone could have imagined. While politicians and other selfish sorts enjoy denying global warming for their own ends, the fact is that in any broad survey of environmental scientists, over ninety percent will agree with the proposition that global warming is real, and human activity contributes to it.
This is an example of unethical behavior that some might consider minor. It probably occurs tens of thousands of times every day. Aside from the loss of revenue for the software developer, the real problem here was that the employee rationalized their behavior. By not stealing the CD they aren't breaking the ethics policy of the business and might even be helping the business by enabling themselves to work at home. The employee is intentionally overlooked the fact that their behavior was unethical.
Let's consider another example. You are the CEO of a large public corporation and it's your job to build value for your shareholders. You're in a tough, competitive market and, while you know you have some problems today, you also have every reason to believe things will improve in the future. To help you through this period, you have your finance department assess the future value of some of your contracts to make your projections look better. After all, these are future projections and if you fail to achieve your projections at that time, you will be able to absorb the loss at that time and besides, maybe by helping your numbers now, you can help make those projections become a reality. Of course, you are having a bad year and have to account for some real losses. By moving around some of your assets to other parts of the corporation you can isolate those losses and explain them against poor operating units of the business. This is just business and your just doing your job... right? Your corporation uses Arthur Anderson, one of the "Big Five" accounting firms to perform your outside audits. They will look at your balance sheet as you have now directed it and be able to report that your corporation is healthy and a great investment helping to maintain your stock prices. You don't think your behavior is unethical; you're just doing the job you're being paid to do... right?
"No legacy is so rich as Honesty." ~ William Shakespeare Same thing when it comes to answering questions. Don't answer a question just for the sake of answering or not feeling stupid by not replying. If you don't know the proper answer, admit it and come back as soon as possible by delivering a fact-based answer. This will skyrocket your reputation and consequently the client will respect you.
The ISO 14001 standard is currently the flagship of this principle. Organized and overseen by neutral, non-governmental entities, it covers all aspects of business, from management processes, to manufacturing techniques, to shipping and delivering. The aim is not just to help improve the environment for its own sake, but also to reduce costs and increase efficiency by eliminating waste. The ISO certification brings great prestige and recognition to any business which earns it.
Employees should be taught to question their decisions by asking; "Am I rationalizing unethical behavior?" Businesses need to reinforce their ethics policy by instructing employees, when there is doubt; "Take the high road". When followed, this simple rule will help employees avoid unethical behavior. Unethical behavior creates a victim who is negatively impacted by the employee's actions. If there is a victim then the employees behavior is likely unethical.
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